Ball Friends
by Prose Vanity
Summary: For May Madness 2015: In retrospect, it was probably the most tiresome night of his life. (NxM, RxH, a three-part promenade fic with nothing but author's indulgence in it.)


_Ashynote_ Back for May Madness 2015, with a three-part fic of prom-ish mayhem.

* * *

 **Ball Friends**

 **-;-**

In retrospect, it was, perhaps, the most tiresome night of his life.

Whatever possessed Iinchou to come up with a group study session deserved a good hacking to death, because although it was common knowledge that putting all of them together in one room was _not_ a brilliant idea, it did not stop the class president from pursuing the thought anyway. So now here he was, stuck with trying to teach _her_ Calculus of all things, and judging by the way she kept fiddling with the eraser of her pencil, she was pretty lost.

"Natsume, I don't think I can do this," she said, slumping over the couch and pressing her hands to her eyes. "Why can't I just fail this subject and wait for Jin-jin to retire?"

"Perish the thought." He almost smiled at the horrified look she threw his way. "What? Jinno is a good teacher. It's not his fault your brain can't cope with it."

"Oh, shut your mouth." She sent a notebook flying in his direction but the years have honed his senses all too well. Dodging it was as natural as breathing. "We're eighteen, Natsume, you should at least know I've done better now."

"Hm." He got up and tossed the notebook back to her. "Well if you've really done better you could at least solve two more problems. Go on," he told her when she pouted at him and put two hands together to beg, "those two are way easy. Even an airhead like you would get it. If you're gonna wait for Jinno to retire you'll be graduating at fifty or something. Your choice."

"Do I really have to? And where are you even going? It's not an hour yet!"

"Do you really have to pass?" He ruffled her hair and ignored her squawking. "I'm just going to get something to eat. You guys tire me out in five minutes flat, and this group study is going to last a lifetime."

So he left and made for his kitchen. He figured it _was_ true, what she said. After the whole fiasco with Imai disappearing from spacetime, they managed to bring her back, and everything else that the tragedy put wrong had been righted. They returned to the Academy that flourished more than ever under Narumi's careful guidance, and Sakura Mikan, for all the idiocy people had come to associate with her, managed to reach two-star level and was currently vying for three stars. More than once had Natsume reminded her that diligence could only do so much to make up for lack of intelligence, but as it turns out, Mikan really wasn't that stupid all along. Sure, she was still pretty lame in Maths, but she seemed to have good grasp of History and Languages, and was surprisingly adept at Biological Sciences.

(He was almost willing to bet his annual allowance that the things that happened to her had addled her brains somewhat and tilted everything in her favour, but he never really aired those thoughts out loud. She had not only gotten smarter, she had also learned to throw better punches.)

"You should really stop thinking about her so much."

He groaned into his palm as Koko drew level with him and sipped at his soda indifferently. "Gone were the days when I could frighten you with fire," Natsume sulked, and Koko grinned through the straw between his lips. "Wish I still could, really, with you running around getting into people's heads like that."

"Better be thankful I've outgrown saying them out loud."

"Oh, you try, Yome, and I won't even bother threatening you anymore."

Koko laughed and Natsume couldn't keep the grin back any longer either. After a while the familiar silence settled between them until Koko hit the bottom of his soda can with a loud, final slurp.

"Well I can guarantee one thing tonight," he said as he threw the can into the bin and went his way back to the living room where the rest of them were, "I'll keep my mouth shut. Whatever you wanna think, think it, scream it in your brain, I won't bother." He put his hand up and Natsume smirked at the juvenile gesture. "Promise!"

"Yeah, right."

"Really, I do!" And Natsume should have known, Natsume _should have known_ how that smile of his never boded well, but Natsume forgot and he _hates that he ever did._ "I won't tell—" and at this point Koko just drew a huge breath and began to scream, just as the realisation hit Natsume like a fist to the face— "MIKAN THAT YOU'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT ASKING HER OUT TO THE VICTORY BALL THIS FRIDA—"

The fire in his hand sprung to action before he could even say "YOME YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

* * *

An hour later, while they walked back to the girls' dormitory behind everyone else, she grinned at his flushed face and mercilessly teased him while he boiled in his silence. "You wanted to ask me to the ball? Oh, Natsume, that's _so_ sweet!"

"Shut up, polka dots," he mumbled, but even he thought his voice was too damn quiet, and he would have hit himself if it weren't for the last shred of dignity he had left. She giggled; on another day that would have been music to his ears, but just then it felt like needles poking through his nape.

She finally decided to stop her antics, and he was thankful for the few minutes they got to spend walking quietly. When they reached the gates of the dorm, she looked back at him and stood on her tiptoes to give him a gentle peck on the cheek.

"You're so cute when you blush," she said as she put a hand to his face. He felt all the blood in his body flooding his face when she touched him, and she smiled even more, merry eyes no more than slits, all her teeth showing in a display of nothing but pure affection and fondness, and he couldn't help it, really, he just had to kiss her a little bit more.

When he let go, it was _her_ face that was red as a beet, and his smug grin made its appearance. She socked him in the chest and whispered "good night, stupid" before walking in with Imai and the rest.

He turned back and then remembered. "Hey, you _are_ going with me, right? To the ball?"

"No," she yelled back, "I'm going with someone else!"

And if the world went spinning and his vision blacked out and he found himself staring up the canopy of his bed until the sun started streaming through his windows, who could blame him?


End file.
